Finding My Way
by brokenbride
Summary: One-Shot. Kind of a Season Four finale piece. A smidge of Finchel, but mostly just Finn finally getting out of his funk.


Title: Finding My Way

Summary: Just a little snippet I was inspired to write. Think of it as the season four finale. Finchel.

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. If, perchance, I did, Finn and Rachel would be happily married and living in New York City together.

* * *

Finn stood on the stage, the lights nearly blinding him as he tried to look out at the audience in front of him. The lights were too bright though, and it was as though he were looking into darkness instead of an auditorium full of people. He stood in front of the glee club, his hands clasped in front of him, trying to keep his face as calm as possible.

It was hard to believe how far they had come, especially since it was his first foray into teaching, if you could call it that. At first it was only supposed to be a few weeks, but then somehow it had turned into the entire year. Mr. Shue was still in Washington, and Finn had stayed in Lima, coaching New Directions to their third consecutive Nationals performance.

Looking back he couldn't quite believe that he had been partly responsible for what they had done. Most had been speculative as to whether he could do it, but after winning at Sectionals, everyone had really started to take him seriously.

Then when they had won Regionals, Finn had thought that maybe he had truly found his calling. After being lost for so long, it had felt amazing to finally have something to be proud of; sometime to call his own.

Now here they were, standing on stage in New York City, waiting to find out who had won this year's National championship. Without thinking he reached back and held his hand for a member of the group to hold as the announcer took the stage. He didn't look back to see who it was, but he gave a comforting squeeze and then went back to his stance.

"Hello everyone and welcome to the 2013 National Show Choir competition!" The announcer, which Finn figured was supposed to be a 'celebrity' of sorts, but he couldn't quite figure out who it was. If he hadn't been so nervous he'd have been paying attention when his name had been announced earlier.

The announcer waited for the crowd to calm down before he continued. "Our top three show choirs are on the stage right now. Our first runner up is..." pause for effect. "The Chart Toppers from Springfield, Illinois!"

Finn let out a huge sigh of relief, that meant that New Directions had placed either first or second, both of which he would be completely okay with.

The announcer waited for the applause to die down and for The Chart Toppers to move backstage with their trophy before he continued. "And finally, the moment you've all been waiting for. Your 2013 National Show Choir champs..." Finn felt as though the world had stopped at that very moment, as the man paused once again for effect. "All the way from Lima, Ohio. New Directions!"

Finn couldn't move, he could have sworn that he had said New Directions, but that couldn't be right. He blinked a few times in shock, awareness starting to take hold. They had won. New Directions had won Nationals with him as their coach. He quickly turned around and joined in the chaos that was overtaking the glee club behind him.

The confetti started to fall as Marley and Kitty ran up to take the trophy and bring it back to the group, handing it directly to him.

"None of this would have been possible without you, Finn!" Marley squealed, leaping up to give him a hug.

The rest of the celebration went by in such a blur that Finn had a hard time keeping up. Eventually, after making sure that the group was all back in their hotel rooms, he decided to go out and sit on the steps in front of the hotel.

He couldn't believe how much his life had changed in the past year. He finally knew what he wanted to do with his life, and that was to teach. The feeling that he got when he was coaching the glee club was unlike anything had ever felt, which was saying a lot. It felt amazing to no longer have that dead weight on him, the feeling of being unaccomplished and lost in life.

Smiling to himself, he quickly pushed himself back to his feet and started to turn around to go back to his hotel room inside.

"Congratulations, Mr. Hudson." Her voice stopped him dead in his tracks. A small smile pulled at the corner of his lips as he turned around to greet her. "I always knew that you had it in you, you just had to figure it out on your own."

"Rachel." He said, the smile on his face refusing to go away. He hadn't seen or spoken to her since the night of Grease. She looked good, her hair was shorter, but she looked almost exactly the same.

"You were amazing, Finn. I know you weren't actually in the numbers, but anyone who knows you would know that it was you who created that performance." Rachel said, taking a step towards Finn.

"Thank you." Finn said, unsure of where to go from there. "How have you been?" He wasn't sure if he was even supposed to ask, since their last encounter had ended with them deciding they shouldn't speak anymore.

"I've been good. I just finished my freshmen year for NYADA, so I'm officially done with school until September. Now I've just been going to audition after audition." Rachel said, tugging at the bottom of her skirt, trying to avoid eye contact as much as possible.

"That's great. I'm sure you'll get something." Finn said, deciding that this situation was way too awkward and moving to leave. He was only a few steps away when her voice stopped him again.

"I'm sorry, Finn." Her voice was ragged, causing him to turn back towards her. "I never really wanted us to lose touch like we did."

"Yeah, well we did." Finn couldn't stop the bitterness from entering his voice, and he immediately regretted it when he saw her flinch in response.

"I missed you." Rachel said, moving to close the gap between them. "I tried so hard not to, but I do."

"I missed you too, Rach." Finn said, sitting back down on the steps, suddenly tired from the emotions running through him.

Rachel stood there awkwardly for a moment, unsure as whether she should sit as well. Eventually she decided to just lean on the railings next to Finn, as sitting in a skirt was not an easy task. They sat like that for a few minutes, just enjoying the silence as they both tried to manage their emotions.

"Kurt says you're going to NYU in the fall." Rachel blurted out, because she didn't know how else to broach the subject.

"Yeah." Finn said, leaning back on his elbows. "I got my acceptance letter a few weeks ago. Sue wrote my letter of recommendation if you can believe it." Finn laughed at the irony, given how they had been 'enemies' at the beginning of the year. "Part of me thinks she only wrote it so she could get rid of me."

"That's great. So you know what you want to do with your life?" Rachel didn't want to pry, but she felt like she was due something.

"I want to be a teacher." Finn said simply, happy to be sharing this with Rachel. "I think I finally realized what I want to do with my life, and that's teaching. Being responsible for the success of someone, there's no other feeling that can compare."

Rachel smiled, happy that Finn had finally found his way. "So it looks like we'll both be in New York in the fall then."

Finn smiled too, catching something in her words that gave him hope. Hope that there might still be hope for them as well. He'd screwed up before because he had let his lack of ambition cloud his mind, but now his mind was clear. He knew two things without a doubt.

One: That he had finally gotten his life in order, and he wasn't going to be stuck in Lima, Ohio anymore.

Two: If it was the last thing he did, he was going to marry Rachel Berry. He just had to convince her to give him another shot.


End file.
